Plans2Reality

Spring

The season and the mechanical device. I can't quite beleive I haven't posted since February. After a slow winter, business activity has increased. It seems as though there was a sort of pause last fall, waiting for the other shoe (or bank) to drop. Now, while we are by no means out of the woods, business activity is increasing again.

So, here at Plans2Reality we are springing forward as well. We've expanded our offices and our service offerings. There's increased emphasis on what I call 'Driving the Design Win Process' as we help our clients close the technology design wins they need to drive sales.

Got Design Wins?

3D from nVidia and Samsung

Last year, TI showed a 3D system based on shutter-sunglasses and their DLP TV. Interesting, but the image was dark and, for some viewers, tended to induce motion sickness.

nVidia has addressed all this. Their new video controller, combined with a much nicer pair of "sunglasses", gives excellent, bright, artifact-free 3D. nVidia says most games already support it, and the available movie content is growing.

Samsung has another approach - they showed a TV that converts ordinary content to 3D. Again, magic glasses are required. No information on how it's done, but it appears the TV can determine which object are in the foreground. It duplicates the object with a slight lateral shift to create the 3D effect. A casual viewing looked good, but one wonders how well it works with all content, as opposed to Samsung-selected content.

If you're a gamer, you should check out the new nVidia stuff. Otherwise, life goes on.

CES 2009 - The Earbud Yo-Yo and Other Cool Stuff

A newcomer to CES, Covington Creations has the most useful earbug cord-manager that I've ever used or seen. It's a simple; more importantly, it works. There's a picture and a video demo at their website:

http://www.covington-creations.com/

Why is it cool? Well, it works. Most of the cord stays spooled, so you don't get snarls. And it's small enough to fit in a pocket or iPod pouch, which is a requirement for any cord-minder, and one often overlooked by other desgners.

Okay, maybe this isn't the most high-tech gadget at CES, but it's one of the most useful. It has cured me of constant (and annoying) cord-untangling. Go by some!

We'll blog on other gadgets later.

Electronica 2008, Day 2: Wearable Tech

There's a lot of buzz around wearable tech at this year's Electronica. Of course, in many ways we already have wearable tech, from Bluetooth headsets to armband-iPods to Wii game controllers.

But the technologists are pushing it further. Sensor nets are being used to monitor precise body movements to aid in exercise. Several companies have developed materials that generate electricity from random movement or heat.

Who knows what we'll be wearing in a few years? Something that charges all the other gadgets we own, for sure.

Electronica 2008 - Day 1

Munich - while the mood is a bit subdued, attendance is good and there is more hope than worry in the air. Much of the emphasis this year is on 'green', and not just eliminating lead. Ultra-low-power radio technologies are everywhere; some are even 'zero-power'. EnOcean, for example, has developed energy-harvesting technologies and combined them with sensors and radios. Of course, it's not truly zero-power, but the point is that it harvests the energy it needs, rather than requiring a battery.

This may spell the end of Grenley's Law #2: every wireless devices you own adds two wires to your desktop.

In other news - literally - the amount of press coverage and news in English has increased noticeably. It's rare now to see a vendor who doesn't have English product information; and the press are putting out English show dailies. E&E to Go was a leader in this, but now Markt&Technik, who publish the best-read daily, have added English as well. (Way to go, H, and nice work, D!)

US companies should consider carefully whether to attend, and to exhibit, at Electronica. For IC, passives, and the rest of 'real electronics' it has clearly emerged as a world show, and the world leader. Half of attendees are non-German.

All for now - time to hit the road for day 2!